Enterprises utilize backup storage systems to protect data on their computer systems from loss by copying the data of the computer system and storing it at the backup storage system. The process relies on a client application being executed at each computer system to be backed up to the backup storage system. The client marshals the data to be backed up and transmits it to a backup server that stores it in a set of storage devices local to or in communication with the backup server. Clients may also utilize a backup administrator to handle the backup and recovery process for each client.
Typically, the backup administrator handles data recovery for each client individually, even if the backup administrator handles data recovery for multiple clients. Handling the backup and data recovery process for each machine of a client individually is resource intensive, time consuming, and becomes unwieldy cumbersome from a backup administrator's perspective as the number of clients the administrator handles increases.
It has been a lack of an efficient mechanism to allow backup systems to initiate efficient data recovery for multiple clients from multiple storage systems. Conventional mechanisms are no longer sufficient to satisfy the resource utilization and data recovery concerns of such environments, especially in a multi-client environment.